The first train cars that will return to the rebuilt station under the World Trade Center were the last to leave it, moving terrified passengers as far as possible from the collapsing twin towers. The eight PATH train cars come back Nov. 23 to a station that has the same name as before: "World Trade Center."

The sign, still in bubble wrap, hung Thursday on a platform that will open to the public for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001. On the restored platform for Tracks 3 and 4, Gov. George Pataki stood with trade center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and his architects, Daniel Libeskind and David Childs, and looked at the space where the towers stood. "You have the sense of the tragedy that happened here," Pataki said. "And then," he said, turning to the sign. "you see the World Trade Center. That's what we have to do: move beyond and still remember."

The decision to keep the station's name was as deliberate as every other detail of the restored temporary rail station, which is expected to serve 50,000 daily commuters.

Most important was whether commuters would have views of the trade center site. The only view will be at the platform. On Thursday, those touring the site saw construction trailers, stacks of steel beams, an American flag. At the top of the stairs, screens will shield the site from public view.

Victims' family members requested that passengers coming through the train station have only a limited view of the towers' footprints.

Above ground, passengers will enter the temporary station on Church Street and descend into a stark steel and concrete space. The 16-month $253 million restoration of the temporary station involved gutting the train tunnels down to their iron frames and installing nearly 7,000 feet of track and 50,000 tons of steel.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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This is an intresting story. NYC has such an extensive subway system. It is amazing there are so few in the US. With all the traffic people deal with daily its amazing that city dweller can't get this simple efficient form of transport.

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The entire PATH system had to be redesigned because of the loss of this station.

The PATH system is the only rapid transit link to New Jersey (The NYC Subway system stays entirely in NYC). It has 6 stations in Manhattan (including The World Trade Center) and 6 in New Jersey that connect to The NJTransit commuter rail system, The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail System, and The Newark City Subway.

The WTC station was the only Manhattan stop at the end of the southern tube that crosses the Hudson. There is another tube that crosses further north and has 5 stops in Manhattan leading up to Herald Square near Penn Station. So the PATH system went from 2 river crossings to 1.

WTC was the only station in Lower Manhattan for PATH riders, the nearest Manhattan stop is at Christopher Street in the West Village. From Christopher Street passengers bound for Lower Manhattan need to walk several blocks to the 1/9 NYC Subway trains. Christopher Street was turned into a one-way station due to the massive surge in passengers. You can only get on at Christopher in the afternoon, and you can only exit at Christopher in the mornings. The Port Authority (which operates the PATH) wants to build a new eastern exit/entrance to Chritopher to facilitate transfers to the 1/9, and also because with a single exit/entrance the station poses a large safety risk, especially in Post-Sept. 11th New York (shortly after the attacks, when the system was still trying to work out how it would operate with one tunnel, there were stories of it taking passengers up to half an hour to get out of the station.) NIMBYs in the neighbourhood are fighting to block the new exit (it's quite shocking what some of these NIMBYs think about people from Jersey).

A lot of passengers that used to use the WTC PATH station have also switched to ferries. There is some concern that there are too many ferries in the Hudson now and the situation may be an accident waiting to happen. There are also a bunch of NIMBYs in Battery Park City (should be called NIMBY Park City) that don't like having the ferries dock in their neighbourhood. I guess they didn't know what a marina was when they signed their leases.

The best news in this article is that PATH is going to be brought into the MetroCard system. Until now PATH and the NYC Subway had two seperate farecards (the PATH card is actually better). So passengers that came into Manhattan on the PATH and switched to the subway had to carry and keep track of the amount of money they had on 2 farecards, quite annoying.

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The entire PATH system had to be redesigned because of the loss of this station.

The PATH system is the only rapid transit link to New Jersey (The NYC Subway system stays entirely in NYC). It has 6 stations in Manhattan (including The World Trade Center) and 6 in New Jersey that connect to The NJTransit commuter rail system, The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail System, and The Newark City Subway.

The WTC station was the only Manhattan stop at the end of the southern tube that crosses the Hudson. There is another tube that crosses further north and has 5 stops in Manhattan leading up to Herald Square near Penn Station. So the PATH system went from 2 river crossings to 1.

WTC was the only station in Lower Manhattan for PATH riders, the nearest Manhattan stop is at Christopher Street in the West Village. From Christopher Street passengers bound for Lower Manhattan need to walk several blocks to the 1/9 NYC Subway trains. Christopher Street was turned into a one-way station due to the massive surge in passengers. You can only get on at Christopher in the afternoon, and you can only exit at Christopher in the mornings. The Port Authority (which operates the PATH) wants to build a new eastern exit/entrance to Chritopher to facilitate transfers to the 1/9, and also because with a single exit/entrance the station poses a large safety risk, especially in Post-Sept. 11th New York (shortly after the attacks, when the system was still trying to work out how it would operate with one tunnel, there were stories of it taking passengers up to half an hour to get out of the station.) NIMBYs in the neighbourhood are fighting to block the new exit (it's quite shocking what some of these NIMBYs think about people from Jersey).

A lot of passengers that used to use the WTC PATH station have also switched to ferries. There is some concern that there are too many ferries in the Hudson now and the situation may be an accident waiting to happen. There are also a bunch of NIMBYs in Battery Park City (should be called NIMBY Park City) that don't like having the ferries dock in their neighbourhood. I guess they didn't know what a marina was when they signed their leases.

The best news in this article is that PATH is going to be brought into the MetroCard system. Until now PATH and the NYC Subway had two seperate farecards (the PATH card is actually better). So passengers that came into Manhattan on the PATH and switched to the subway had to carry and keep track of the amount of money they had on 2 farecards, quite annoying.

When are they switching to metrocard? Probably the day I leave Jersey City

Is it going to be two separate accounts on the same card, or can you buy a unlimited pass that would work on both (im assuming that would be more than an unlimted pass that works only on the MTA).

The Port Authority said this week that unlimited ride NYC Transit Metrocards would not be compatible with fare collection at stations along the rebuilt downtown PATH line. PATH service to lower Manhattan is scheduled to reopen on November 23th and the MTA and Port Authority have said that the new PATH turnstiles would accept Metrocard fare payment.

About 50% of NYC Transit riders now use unlimited ride cards, and the number is rising. But it may not be terrible if these riders aren

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Historic Ruins? Well, at what point should we have stopped reclaiming the ruins, should downtown Manhattan have been left as it was on the morning of September 12th, 2001?

It's a giant open wound, leaving it open as 'Historic Ruins' would be like leaving the human victims untreated, and having their open wounds serve as 'historic' reminders. Places need to be healed just as people do.

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Guest donaltopablo

Guest donaltopablo

I'm in favor of not building on the footprint of the towers. But not rebuilding the site is foolish. We need to bring closure to that morning and we need to show that we can rebuild and go on. Those who think we should just leave it as it was are going to always leave in fear of that morning and never move on.

Hundreds of commuters using the reopened PATH train station restored rush-hour chaos to the site of the former World Trade Center today for the first time since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Here they come!" said the head of administration for PATH, Linda Vespoli, watching as a crowd of commuters pushed through the turnstiles into the Lower Manhattan station after disembarking from New Jersey trains. "Welcome back everyone."

She greeted the incoming commuters to the station, built in the foundation of the Trade Center, fielding questions about schedules and fares, and handing out free pens and business card holders that said "Remembering, Reconnecting, Rebuilding."

"It's going to be a busy, big station," said one police officer to another as they watched commuters flow through the turnstiles.

The station was officially inaugurated on Sunday with a ceremonial train ride by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York; Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey, and Senators Jon Corzine and Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey. Members of victims' families also made the trip, as the group rode aboard the last eight cars to leave the Trade Center station on Sept. 11, 2001. After the ceremonial ride, the link to New Jersey was opened to the public.

But as the workweek kicked off this morning, the gleaming new PATH trains got down to fulfilling the real business of the $323 million, 16-month restoration